Author: Muhammad Asim Ismail Zahi
The Wisdom and Philosophy of Hajj and Its Hidden Secrets (Part 7)
An Annual Performance That Maintains the Purity and Authenticity of the Ummah and Protects the Religion from Widespread Distortion and Corruption
Hajj is an annual performance that maintains the purity and authenticity of the Ummah and plays a prominent role in the survival of the religion, away from distortion, concealment, and mixture, and away from separation from its root, source, and foundation.
Hajj protects the Islamic Ummah from the conspiracies and mistakes that have befallen many nations in the past. The Muslim Ummah maintains its loving, passionate, enlightened, straightforward, and easy-going Abrahamic nature through this glorious and wise organization, which it transmits from generation to generation. It seems that Hajj is a living, powerful and dynamic school that pumps blood into the veins and arteries of the sick. This Ummah evaluates its various strata collectively on one level and field through it. The scholars and leaders of the Ummah have removed from it the manipulation of extremists, the fabrications of the vain, the justifications and interpretations of the ignorant, and the superstitions of innovators, linking it to their Abrahamic root and, on the one hand, to clear and pure Muhammadian sharia, as well as to the pure religion of Islam. This Ummah has also been able to maintain its religious, intellectual, and cultural unity and remain immune from regional and local influences through Hajj— influences that destroy its unity and its Abrahamic, Islamic, and Muhammadian character; this is something past religions and nations have suffered from.
Allah Almighty has destined this for this eternal Ummah: to live in different environments across many lands and to go through many different stages, such as heat and strength, stagnation and decline, hardship and pressure, battle and resistance, deceptive material and political motives, the progress of civilization, material and financial expansion, scarcity of livelihood, prosperity and comfort, hardship and ease, pressure and comfort, and the domination of oppressive enemies and kings. This Ummah has always needed to ignite the embers of faith and to arouse affection, love, kindness, repetition, devotion, and friendship in its various members. Therefore, Allah Almighty made Hajj a spring; so that the branches of this eternal tree would give leaves, become green every year, and bear fruit by the permission of Allah Almighty. In its light, this universal tree would wear a new and beautiful dress.
Shaikh al-Islam Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahim Dehlavi, (MABH), based on the keen knowledge and profound understanding that Allah Almighty has bestowed upon him in understanding the secrets and objectives of the Sharia, first mentioned this point in his book Hujjatullah Al-Baligha and said: “Just as a government needs a show every now and then in which the righteous man is separated from the deceitful man, the obedient man from the rebellious man, and the reputation and slogan of the government are raised, and the people of that land become more familiar with each other, so the Islamic Ummah needs Hajj. This way, the successful and worthy man is separated from the hypocrite, and the acceptance of the divine religion by the people becomes evident as a group. Muslims observe each other and benefit from each other in what they do not know because worthy and desirable things are achieved by accompanying and seeing one another.”
He also said: “And since Hajj has been designated as a famous and visible ritual, it is effective in eliminating problems and customs, and there is no other occasion like it for remembering the states that the leaders of the nation enjoyed and encouraging adherence to it.
Among its benefits is realizing the concept of presenting and displaying, as every state or nation has a special gathering where people from near and far attend to get to know each other better and to honor their religious rules and rituals. Hajj is a gathering and demonstration of Muslims, revealing the splendor and assembly of its followers and emphasizing clinging to the religion. This is the meaning of the words of Allah Almighty, who said: وَإِذْ جَعَلْنَا الْبَيْتَ مَثَابَةً لِلنَّاسِ وَأَمْنًا (Translation: “And when We made the House (Ka’ba) a place of rest for mankind and a place of security.”)
A Universal and Eternal Place of Illumination
Allah Almighty has ordained that Hajj, even in the most difficult circumstances and darkest days, will not be devoid of divine and sincere scholars, as well as worthy, accepted, inviters, guides, supplicants, the humble and the enlightened, and established scholars who fill the atmosphere with spirituality and humility. A spirituality that results in the softening of hard hearts, the humbleness of rebellious people, the flow of tears in their eyes, the rekindling of extinguished embers, the revelation of divine mercy, the spread of peace and tranquility, and the disgrace of Satan.
Therefore, it is stated in the hadith that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: (ما رؤيَ الشيطانُ يوما هو فيه أصْغَرُ، ولا أدْحَرُ ولا أحْقَرُ، ولا أغْيَظُ منه في يوم عرفة، وما ذاك إلا لما يرى من تَنَزُّل الرحمة). Translation: “The devil has never been seen on a day in which he is more humble, more debased, and angrier than he is on the day of Arafah, because he sees the descent of mercy and the forgiveness of major sins.”
During Hajj, the atmosphere becomes electric, and Muslims who have come from all corners recharge the batteries of their hearts and take with them the provisions of faith, love, epic, knowledge, and jurisprudence to sustain them for the rest of their lives. This equips them to resist all provocations, deceptions, threats, and adornments and share this precious provision with their Muslim brothers who have been prevented from Hajj due to poverty, incapacity, illness, or fear of the enemy. In this way, this current of faith flows through the body of this nation that is scattered on the shores. In this atmosphere, the ignorant learn; the weak gain strength; the subdued rebel, and the nation gains new strength to fulfill its mission and resume its struggle.
Continues…
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